What a weird world we are living in. I’ve exhausted my brain reading think pieces and data analysis trying to figure out how life unfolds after this pandemic, which never fails to lead me back to the same place: nothing is certain.

It’s a fundamental concept we spend most of our time on Earth wrapping our heads around and for the first time in our lifetimes, the majority of us are confronting the same existential questions all at once. 

Our team usually aligns on a theme for the month pretty quickly, but as we brainstormed an idea for May back at the beginning of April, we were at a loss. As I sat at my kitchen table thinking about how we could be a helpful and useful escape for our readers, I kept coming back to the only universal advice I could give at the moment: make do.

Out of this kind of pressure and tension, a whole new world will come forward. But it is going to take some time. If you are feeling the pressure to rush toward whatever waits for us on the other side of this tragedy, remember we cannot rush this process. Making do will need to be enough.

For most of us, the extra time we’ve spent doing our part at home has been ripe with internal conflict, conflicting information about how to proceed from here, and conflicting predictions about what the future holds. Out of this kind of pressure and tension, a whole new world will come forward. But it is going to take some time. If you are feeling the pressure to rush toward whatever waits for us on the other side of this tragedy, remember we cannot rush this process. Making do will need to be enough.

Make do with what you have at home.

Make do with what’s in the fridge.

Make do with what you have in the closet.

Make do with the energy you have.

Make do with the grief you feel.

In the month ahead, our contributors will be writing about ways to find beauty in our new world, and micro-habits that can improve your life. They’ll be making a case for using what you have, and exploring how we can learn to honor rest as a regular rhythm in our lives. I’ll be writing about how we can learn to embrace the versions of ourselves that emerge when our usual distractions are removed. We’re excited to share all of this and more with you as we move through the month.

I don’t know about you, but this is the first time I’ve been forced to slow down enough to really assess how much keeping busy has been part of my identity. Slowing down and getting creative with what I have in order to make do hasn’t felt limiting. It’s shown me how many blessings I passed by each day without acknowledging. It’s shown me how abundantly I can live when I stop racing toward an unknown destination and focus on what’s in front of me.

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Kate Arends

Kate is the founder of Wit & Delight. She is currently learning how to play tennis and is forever testing the boundaries of her creative muscle. Follow her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.